S.A. judge to hear Perry coercion complaint

A San Antonio judge was assigned on Tuesday to hear a complaint that alleges Gov. Rick Perry committed coercion, bribery and official oppression by vetoing funding for the Travis County District Attorney’s Public Integrity Unit.

In April, Lehmberg pleaded guilty to a driving-while-intoxicated charge, served jail time and took a personal leave of absence, but has maintained publicly that she will not resign.

Perry “threatened to use the official power of his elected office to veto” funding for the public integrity unit, which Lehmberg oversees, the complaint states.

Lehmberg had to recuse herself from hearing the complaint herself in late June, and it was assigned to Judge Julie Kocurek of the 390th District Court in Travis County. Kocurek then also recused herself, and on Tuesday, 3rd Circuit Presiding Judge Billy Ray Stubblefield assigned the case to Richardson, who was defeated in 2008.